larry summers, a top white house economics adviser as well as secretary under clinton spoke with cnbc's bernie lowe just today. >> everybody should, before meeting the debt obligations of the united states, and then there needs to be a vigorous and active discussion around what is a very real problem. the sustainability over the long-term of the u.s. financial position, which surely needs be addressed in a balanced way with both measures on the expenditure side and measures on the revenue side. >> phillip, how are you? >> i'm fairly cynical about the whole process. >> about u.s. politics? >> well, the other side, as well. i think you can make a pretty good case for abolishing the debt ceiling completely. that's not go to happen in the short-term. we've seen this time and time again. we know that these negotiations are being conducted across polarized camps in congress and the administration and that the likely event is that nothing is going to be agreed at until the 11th hour, right at the last minute spop i would have thought it's very likely that we'll get an increase in the debt ceil